WSU researcher Nancy Bell says that listeners will punish a speaker of bad jokes for two primary reasons: 1) It’s a violation of a social contract to fail to deliver laughs; and 2) It insults the intelligence of the listener.

According to the story from The Associated Press:

Bell’s findings would come as no surprise to most professional comics, who know that humor can sometimes turn very, very ugly. The Internet contains clips of comedians Pauly Shore and Jim Jeffries being attacked on-stage by listeners. Even more terrifying is comedian-on-comedian violence, such as last year’s brawl in which Jon Lovitz banged Andy Dick’s head into a bar.

Bell, a tall, bubbly woman with a sharp wit, fortunately was not violently attacked during her research, despite the quality of the joke she chose from among thousands of bad jokes available on-line.

The joke? What did the big chimney say to the little chimney?

Nothing, chimneys can’t talk.

After that one, Bell’s research assistants received insults, glares, silence or even blows.